Maps of Music

Seasons in the Abyss (1990)

Where the lyrics of Seasons in the Abyss take you, and where it was really made.

Slayer's album was "unwelcome" to music shows and rock radio, yet it got substantial airplay on MTV's Headbangers Ball.

Key places

Recorded at Hollywood Sound Recorders, Los Angeles (1990)

Recording site Hollywood Sound — Recording sessions began in March 1990 at Hit City West and Hollywood Sound, one of the studios used for the album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at The Record Plant, Los Angeles (1990)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — Recording sessions ended in June 1990 at The Record Plant in Los Angeles, California. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Seasons in the Abyss: fifth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer
• Released October 9, 1990 through Def American Records
• Running time 42:27, the longest album in the band's catalogue
• Critics compared its musical style with the band's previous two albums, South of Heaven (1988) and Reign in Blood (1986)
• Released again later in 1990 through Warner Music Group, and re-released in 1994 through American Recordings

Background

• Last album to feature the full original lineup with drummer Dave Lombardo, before his return on Christ Illusion (2006)
• Lineup on the album: Tom Araya, Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, Dave Lombardo
• Previous two albums: Reign in Blood and South of Heaven

Recording

• Recorded from March to June 1990 in two separate studios in Los Angeles, California
• Studios: Hit City West, Hollywood Sound, and Record Plant
• Produced by Rick Rubin, who also produced Reign in Blood and South of Heaven
• Track eight, "Temptation", featured an overdub of Tom Araya's vocals, and the vocal arrangement was unintentional

Cover

• Artwork and illustrations credited to Larry Carroll
• Photography credited to Sunny Bak and Marty Temme

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com · pt.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in 1981 in Huntington Park, California by Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, Dave Lombardo and Tom Araya.
• Started by playing covers of Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Venom at parties and clubs in Southern California.
• Signed with Metal Blade Records after the song "Aggressive Perfector" appeared on Metal Massacre III.

Members

• Current lineup: Kerry King, Tom Araya, Paul Bostaph and Gary Holt; Holt joined in 2011 and became permanent after Hanneman's death in 2013.
• Former members include drummers Dave Lombardo (left three times) and Jon Dette.

Career

• Released twelve studio albums, including Reign in Blood (1986), widely described as one of the most influential thrash metal albums.
• Christ Illusion (2006) won a Grammy for "Eyes of the Insane", the band's first Grammy-related recognition.
• Disbanded in 2019 after a farewell tour and reunited for sporadic shows from 2024.
• Considered one of the "Big Four" of thrash metal alongside Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Received generally positive reviews from critics on release
• Peaked at number 40 on the Billboard 200 in the United States

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's Steve Huey, in a retrospective review, said it brought back the pounding speed of Reign in Blood for the third major-label album
• Huey called it the band's most accessible album, with sharp, clean production
• AllMusic: four and a half stars out of five
• Entertainment Weekly: B+
• Entertainment Weekly reviewer David Browne said listening to it was like listening to a single speed-metal song, the world's longest
• Rolling Stone ranked it 31st on its 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time (2017)
• Loudwire ranked it number 2 among Slayer's eleven studio albums (2016)
• Metal Injection included it on a list of metal albums arguably better than their band's most acclaimed (2021)

Records

• Billboard 200 (US): number 40
• UK Albums Chart: number 18
• Certified gold in the United States and Canada
• Sold over 813,000 copies in the United States by 2017 since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Track eight, "Temptation", featured an overdub of Tom Araya's singing; the vocal arrangement was unintentional
• Thrashcore band S.O.D. parodied the album title with their song "Seasoning the Obese"
• The music video was filmed at Egypt's pyramids shortly before the Gulf War

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

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